Australian MFO Members Hit-and-Run

Australia has a long and mostly unblemished involvement with the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) peacekeeping mission in the Sinai, but in August 1994 an MFO vehicle being driven by a senior member of the Australian contingent and containing a number of more junior members of the Australian contingent, struck a woman as she stepped into the path of their vehicle, as they drove through Cairo en route to El Alamein to conduct a reconnaissance for anniversary celebrations for the Battle of El Alamein. The Australian driver did not stop and subsequently ordered all of his subordinate passengers not to report the incident.

The incident remained unreported till April 1995 when one of the passengers, army Staff Sergeant David Hartshorn, reported it to Australian military authorities after returning to Australia. Numerous investigations then ensued with evidence eventually being included in an Australian Federal Senate inquiry titled 'Effectiveness of Australia's Military Justice System' (read submission number 52 titled 'Summary of Australian Army Hit and Run Cairo Egypt - August 1994' authored by David Hartshorn at the following link):

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/fadt_ctte/miljustice/submissions/sublist.htm

Senate committees are obliged to offer a 'right of reply' to any person named adversely in an inquiry submission, therefore the Australian driver should have been provided with the evidence in submission 52, however no response from the driver has ever been published.

It is also worth noting that the Australian Defence Force did not provide any response to submission number 52 to publicly refute, or otherwise challenge, any of the evidence contained in that submission, despite ample time and opportunity to do so.

Oral evidence about the hit and run was also officially taken from David Hartshorn by a committee of Australian senators and is included in a government PDF document at the following link. When the PDF document fully downloads, Hartshorn's evidence commences from page 64:

http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/senate/commttee/S7493.pdf

Chapter 7 of the final report titled 'The Reporting of Wrongdoing in the Australian Defence Force', also makes mention of the incident on page 130 paragraph 7.32 at the following link:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/fadt_ctte/miljustice/report/c07.pdf

The information contained in these links enjoys Australian parliamentary privilege, and prima facie evidence of the incident was verified by the Australian Government prior to being posted on their inquiry website. No individual has faced any disciplinary action as a result of this incident.

The Force Commander of the MFO during the hit and run incident was an Australian, Major General David Ferguson, who served as the Force Commander during the period April 1994 until April 1997.

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